The Master’s College volleyball team got a huge win on Saturday night against No. 17 Point Loma by winning in five sets (25-16, 25-22, 28-30, 16-25, 15-11). The win pushes the Lady Mustangs record to 18-11 (6-8).

The Lady Mustangs used a few blocks to take a 4-2 lead early in the first set. Master’s played very sound fundamentally to get out to a 12-5 lead. The Lady Mustangs communicated extremely well and controlled the set in every way. TMC also took advantage of many Point Loma errors to stretch their lead to 20-10. From that point on the teams would swap points until Master’s took the set 25-16.

The two teams would go back and forth as they battled to a 10-10 tie at the beginning of the second set. Point Loma started to get away from the Lady Mustangs at that point as they went on a quick 5-1 run, but Coach Blanken’s team answered the call with a 5-1 run of their own to even the set at 16-16. The set was up for the taking, but neither team could get a grasp on the momentum. The Lady Mustangs finally settled in to score the last three points of the set. Tami Brown had a kill to put the Lady Mustangs in front at 23-22, and Victoria Callihan had a block to seal the set at 25-22.

The third set would prove to be something like a heavyweight boxing match. The teams would trade blows the entire set, but neither team would give in. The Sea Lions got out to their largest lead at 10-6. TMC used kills from Ashley Newton and Tami Brown to fight back into a tie at 11-11. The fight was on for the remainder of the set as neither team could deliver the knock-out punch. Eventually, Point Loma would take the third set 30-28 in dramatic fashion.

In the fourth set, the Lady Mustangs never seemed to find their rhythm offensively. Point Loma was a steady force in the set which lead to the Sea Lions slowly walking away from the home team. The visitors never gave TMC a real chance to get back in the set after it was close in the beginning. There were too many self-inflicted errors for Master’s which enable Point Loma to even the match at 2-2 with a 25-16 win.

Much like the third set, the fifth and final set was a nail-biter at the start, but would not remain that way. The set was close until Rachel Taylor had a kill that put the Lady Mustangs up 9-6. From there on out TMC would have the upper hand and would take the set 15-11 and the match 3-2.

Samantha Dougherty had a team high 13 kills and a team high 18 digs in the game for the Lady Mustangs. Tami Brown had a game high .643 hitting percentage while Alyssa Gergins lead TMC with 24 assists.

Coach Blanken’s team will travel to Irvine on Tuesday to play Concordia at 7:00 pm.